Blacklight dash lights 49-50 Ford

gary635g

gary635g

Member
Anyone tried to rejuvinate blacklight dash on 49-50 Ford by using a brighter bulb or repainting dial and needles with a black light receptive paint? Thanks Gary
 
Nobody in the 49-51 Ford/Merc club has done this that I know of. Most everyone removes the black bulb lenses for the cluster to show at night. Some paint the bulbs green.

Go to page 3- this was talked about recently- see thread titled "1950 FordCustom" by
gary635g
 
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I have done many. The trick is to spray with flouresent green the whole cluster housing, not the bulb. Each gauge I just carfully slip a piece of paper over the face
and give the needles a dusting with flouresent red. Big difference. When these
were new they were real pretty at night. For the life of me I cant remember the
name of that glow in the dark they used, but I think it gets tired with age, like an
alarm clock that dont glow no more. small spray cans of hobby paint hardware store.
 
Thanks very much "Radium" was the original glow in the dark that was used in the 30's but is radioactive and many had problems from licking the brush while painting the radium. I probably will not get the speedo out until October and may contact you for more info. Gary
 
In the Owners Manual, for our '49 Lincoln Cosmopolitan Convertible, there is a disclaimer that states "there is no radioactive material used in the instrument panel lighting"...
 
"The trick is to spray with flouresent green the whole cluster housing" Not sure what you mean here it would seem spraying the entire face of speedo and gages would make it impossible to distinguish from background though I do realize the pointers will be painted red. Thanks Gary
 
gary635g said:
"The trick is to spray with flouresent green the whole cluster housing" Not sure what you mean here it would seem spraying the entire face of speedo and gages would make it impossible to distinguish from background though I do realize the pointers will be painted red. Thanks Gary
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What I meant was to spray the inside of the cluster housing which was
usually a white- ish color. Now the light bulbs bounce off the fluresent
green and when assembled the whole cluster glows green, like the new
cars. Or spray it red if you want it to glow red. I find it has to be fluresent
paint which is flat when dry so it doesnt reflect reflections it glows even.
sam
 
Thanks I appreciate your help I will see what I can do and will keep adding info as I go. I did a test on the Speedo and find it is not accurate with Tom Tom Gps The problem is not linear Ford at 20=34 tom at 40 both are equal Ford at 60=50 tom Ford 70 tom=57 below 50 Ford is slow after 50 Ford is fast Anyone had this problem? I will check the odometer for accuracy before I dissassemble the unit. Gary
 
Replaced the GE 55 3 watt bulbs with the 6251 5 watt bulbs and it helped a bunch the gages are easy to see but someone changed the speedo needle to a flat one not florescent(sic) I will have to remove disassemble and add some orange or red fluorescent(sic)to the needle to be able to see. Speedo is not accurate and not a linear problem so I will have to make a chart with tom tom. Odometer is off by 10% car slower than indicated.
 
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